Hachette Book Group

The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) announced today the preliminary program and speakers for Digital Book 2012 at BEA (idpf.org/db12). The conference, held in partnership with BookExpo America (BEA), will be held June 4-5, 2012, in New York City's Javits Center, and is expected to draw global leaders in the publishing industry, including technologists, marketers, retailers, solution providers, publishers, authors, and agents.

Featured speakers at Digital Book 2012 will include best-selling authors Seth Godin and Bella Andre, as well as publishing CEOs and senior executives including Jane Friedman (Open Road Media), Madeline McIntosh (Random House), Otis Chandler (Goodreads) and more.

Comedy Central is taking its brand to bookstores. The network is launching a publishing imprint with Running Press (part of the Perseus Books Group) with plans to release everything from memoirs to joke and novelty books. The first title from Comedy Central Books will be a holiday themed novelty book from comedian/actor Denis Leary. It’s set to roll out in October with a multi-platform marketing push highlighted by a new Leary-headlined comedy special on the network the will be reminiscent of 2005's Merry F#%$in' Christmas.

Struggles over the sale and distribution of digital books are wreaking havoc on the publishing industry, and amid all the confusion, one question continually surfaces: Are e-books fairly priced?

"Are E-Books Fairly Priced?" is a two-part article looking at battles over e-book pricing within the publishing industry. Part 1 examines how marketplaces initially set prices of e-books, and how publishers reasserted their power through an agreement with Apple.

Little, Brown Book Group and Little, Brown and Company are delighted to announce that they will publish J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults worldwide in the English language, both in print and ebooks.

Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, announced today that it will publish PORTLANDIA: A Guide for Visitors, the official guide to the city of “Portlandia,” written by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, the creators and stars of the hit IFC show Portlandia, produced by Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video. The book will be available on November 20, 2012.

Lagardère SCA announced 2011 full year revenues today, noting that the divisions demonstrated resilience despite a difficult economic environment. Highlights of the company's financial performance are as follows:

January 10, 2012 – Hachette Book Group (HBG) has renewed its book distribution services agreement with Time Home Entertainment Inc (THEI). Since January 2001, HBG has provided global fulfillment, distribution and sales services to THEI; THEI grew in 2007 to include Oxmoor House titles, which the company acquired.

The year 2011 may well go down as the annum of the e-reader. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony and Kobo went all-in for holidays to get their e-readers, tablets and apps into as many hands, purses and briefcases as possible. In 2012, we'll see the results of that push, as publishers anticipate the next step in the digital evolution. Book Business interviewed executives across a wide swath of the industry, from giant trade publishers to university presses, educational outfits and upstart indies. We found that while digital is on the march, print is far from dead, and the next bold move in the industry may be maximizing the synergies between the two.

At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, book publishing finds itself trapped in a perfect storm of economic and technological crisis.

Many people, from many different perspectives, have begun to question and challenge the role of the publisher. The social network, desktop publishing and digital technology have liberated all kinds of new potential. Would-be writers and literary promoters the world over have begun to say (and in some cases to demonstrate) yes, we can (do it ourselves). Such assertions have acquired weight thanks to the global recession. When times are hard, people look for alternative solutions.

Hachette Book Group (HBG) announced that they have renewed their distribution services agreement with San Francisco based Chronicle Books. Since January 2008, HBG has provided fulfillment and distribution services into the United States trade market to Chronicle Books and their clients, which include Moleskine.